“Are we having a Romantic moment?”
| “Are we having a Romantic moment?” Hyperallergic’s Senior Editor Hakim Bishara asks this question in his incisive meditation on Caspar David Friedrich and the reactionary politics overtaking the United States and parts of Europe. Could Friedrich’s reflections of the Romanticist sublime provide insight into our current situation? There’s a bit of the sublime in Norman Bluhm’s gestural abstraction, combined with sensual hedonism, as John Yau writes in his review of the artist's current exhibition. Also in reviews, visitors to the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art have the rare opportunity to see Manuel Herreros de Lemos and Mateo Manaure Arilla’s 1982 documentary “Trans,” along with material related to the film, through April 5. Don’t miss it. In the news, the NEA drops a requirements for applicants not to use federal funds “to promote gender ideology,” based on Trump’s anti-trans executive order, following a lawsuit by the national ACLU and its Rhode Island chapter. And in DC, work begins to remove a 48-foot “Black Lives Matter” mural after Republicans threatened to withhold federal funding for the city if the artwork remained. Finally, the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia, is exhibiting seven of Michelangelo’s few surviving sketches. As Staff Reporter Rhea Nayyar writes, they’ve never before been shown in the United States. And make sure to check out our list of New York City art shows. — Natalie Haddad, Reviews Editor | | |
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| | Just like Caspar David Friedrich and the Romanticists, we live in anxious times and hunger for a touch of the sublime. | Hakim Bishara |
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SPONSORED | | | | | This solo exhibition at Hartford Art School Galleries incorporates Munro’s research into African lineages within the history of graphic design. Learn more |
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IN THE NEWS | | | Unionized Brooklyn Museum workers make some headway with leadership as negotiations over layoffs continue. The NEA will voluntarily drop a highly criticized anti-trans grant requirement after the ACLU sued the agency last week. City workers in Washington, DC, began removing a 48-foot “Black Lives Matter” mural following Republican threats to withhold the city’s federal funding unless its was dismantled. |
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FROM OUR CRITICS | | | Long an admirer of Renaissance and Baroque paintings, Bluhm sought to recreate their sensual forms, unearthly light, and infinite space in abstraction. | John Yau |
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| | Manuel Herreros de Lemos and Mateo Manaure Arilla’s sumptuous 1982 film about trans sex workers in Caracas is the centerpiece of a new exhibition. | Natalie Haddad |
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MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC | | | From Norman Bluhm’s reinvented abstraction to the history of Barbie at the Museum of Arts and Design, we’re looking at a diverse array of art this week. | Natalie Haddad, Hrag Vartanian, Lisa Yin Zhang, John Yau, and Carol Ockman |
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| | | The Renaissance master’s drawings for the Sistine Chapel along with etchings and other objects related to the monumental undertaking are now on view at the Muscarelle Museum of Art. | Rhea Nayyar |
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MEMBER COMMENT | | Jean-Marie Clarke on “Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s Ballad of the Bomb” | | Swords into ploughshares… bombs and shells into art? This article is a too succinct to give a feel for the artist’s intentions. Humanizing a bomb is a strange twist, to say the least, but, considering the above, not very convincing and comes across as a gimmick. The mobiles have esthetic value in themselves, like the brass shell casings turned into decorative objects by WWI soldiers, but do not inspire reflection on their original context. By the way, to this day, American and British “UXO” is still being found in German cities bombed during WWII. |
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| You’re currently a free subscriber to Hyperallergic. To support our independent arts journalism, please consider joining us as a member. | | Become a Member |
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